Christmas Preparations

It's taken a while, but we have finally moved past the wreath on the front door which until this week was really the only visible symbol that Christmas is coming.  This week I have spent two days preparing and printing our card and another day writing a letter to put in cards to be sent to distant family and friends.

I said writing a letter, but that's not entirely accurate.  Time is getting short, and the letter usually takes a couple of days to write and fine tune.  This year I decided to make life easier by using primarily photographs with captions as the carrier of our yearly news.  Because I upload my photos and use many of them in this blog, finding appropriate pictures was relatively easy.  Well, except for one thing.  I realized that we do not have a single picture of our daughter taken during the calendar that could be included in the letter.  It isn't fair to put in images that aren't - well, attractive!  Note to self: be sure to take several shots of the daughter while taking hundreds of the g'son!  The letter was finished in record time, and I dare say the recipients will prefer it, too.

Decorations have now been scattered around the house; it's a very minimalist look for me, but as I said, time is running out.  Some of the things I really like are still packed neatly away on shelves that I can't get to (numerous construction jobs have made the cellar topsy-turvey again).  I take the positive view and say to myself that I will appreciate them all the more next year.

Here's something that is traditional that we were able to do:

D spent many summer vacation days in Vermont chopping wood for an elderly friend.  As a thank you he received the saw that you see above.  It's always over that window, and depending on the season, it is sometimes decorated.  The fish were given to us when we were on our trip to China (fish symbolize prosperity), and they are a fixture on the saw.  The ornaments are the holiday addition.  It always makes me smile.  

It may have happened slowly and may not be much, but it suits us this year.